noticeboard.ru.ac.za

It seems that the same problem as yesterday (see http://noticeboard.ru.ac.za/post.5531446) is recurring today. The problem has been reported to our service providers.

Note that one of the side effects of this outage is that URLs such as http://www/ do not always get correctly translated to http://www.ru.ac.za/ for on-campus computers. Please use the complete URL (i.e. including the ru.ac.za), at least until this problem is resolved.

We're lead to believe that the problems we're experiencing are as a result of faults on Infraco's network (Neotel subcontract Infraco for some inter-city links), and are related to the Eskom power and load-shedding problems that have been reported in the news. The most recent news we've heard is that Infraco expect these faults to be cleared "between 16:45 and 17:45".

Given that we've effectively been without usable Internet access since 23:30 on Tuesday, TENET's service manager has just agreed to escalate this problem to the highest possible level within Neotel.

We've just had some feedback from Neotel via TENET's service manager. Neotel now claim that the microwave link between Rhodes' campus and Albany substation (just outside of town) is to blame, and that the foul weather in Grahamstown is preventing them from investigating and resolving the problem properly. We in turn pointed out that the high winds that were problematic yesterday died down overnight, and that the rain we're currently experiencing only started in the afternoon. It is unclear why Neotel/Infraco did not take advantage of the relatively clear weather this morning to fix the problem.

It is unlikely that Neotel will make any further progress overnight. The Infraco technicians who were on our campus late this afternoon have left, and no doubt gone back to Port Elizabeth. TENET's service manager has, however, undertaken to raise this at an executive level within both Neotel & TENET first thing in the morning.

We've just changed the routing of incoming e-mail to allow external e-mail to be delivered more efficiently. This is currently the only Internet-based service that is working reasonably reliably. Outgoing mail is not treated in the same way, and is currently being queued and delivered at the times when Internet access is available.